Celsius repays $125 million in ETH to crypto exchanges

Celsius restructuring process: Crypto lender Celsius has executed transfers of over $125 million worth of Ether (ETH) to various crypto exchanges in the past week, as part of its efforts to initiate repayments to creditors. Between January 8 and January 12, Celsius moved $95.5 million to Coinbase and $29.7 million to FalconX, as reported by Arkham Intelligence. Notably, despite these transfers, Celsius still retains over 550,000 ETH on its balance sheet, valued at a substantial $1.36 billion at the current market rate.

Earlier this month, on January 5, Celsius decided to unstake a significant 206,300 ETH, valued at $407 million at the time. The lender asserted that these newly released Ether funds would be used to cover expenses associated with its restructuring process and to prepare for creditor repayments.

Celsius has communicated its intention to distribute both Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH to creditors as part of its recovery plan. However, a specific date for the commencement of fund distribution to creditors has not been specified yet.

Creditors of Celsius have been patiently awaiting the release of funds trapped on the platform for over 18 months, since the firm declared bankruptcy in July 2022.

FTX and Alameda follow 

In a parallel development, FTX, a bankrupt crypto exchange, and its defunct trading arm Alameda Research, transferred $28 million worth of crypto to exchanges on January 14. This included $18.7 million in Wrapped Bitcoin, $8 million in Ether, and $1 million in Pendle (PENDLE) to Coinbase and Binance.

FTX, which declared bankruptcy in November of the previous year, has been actively working to raise funds for creditor repayment. Administrators have successfully reclaimed approximately $7 billion in assets, including $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency. 

Market sentiment towards FTX creditor claims has been positive, with some reaching as high as $0.50 on the dollar in October last year, indicating a reasonable likelihood that creditors may be fully compensated. Although an exact reimbursement date for FTX customers is yet to be determined, the current plan estimates that repayments could commence later this year.